The rights of states, Washington and gays

Re “Giuliani, the federalist candidate,” Opinion, July 25

Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani is right on the money. So many issues that should be solved at the state level have been captured by the federal government. The Constitution gives very limited powers to the federal government and leaves the remaining authority in the hands of individual states. These distinctions are often disregarded today, and Giuliani is correct to point out this problem.

Subjects such as abortion and gay marriage should be left to individual states to decide. The conclusion of each state may not be the same, and our Constitution gives wide latitude for states to differ on serious issues.

Raz Shafer

Stephenville, Texas

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Giuliani is in favor of states determining whether gay people can get married. Perhaps Giuliani is still living in the 18th century. In the 21st century, people often move from state to state. How would you like to wake up in a new state and find out you are no longer married, Mr. Giuliani? In Monday’s debate, only one democratic candidate (Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich) had the guts to say he favored gay marriage. Shame on the mealy-mouthed rest of you.

Julia Dunphy

Harbor City

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It’s bad enough that all three branches of the federal government fail to recognize gay rights as a constitutional issue and, in doing so, lag behind the enlightened thinking in most Western governments. But to have a prominent journalist in a prominent newspaper do the same is disheartening.

Gay rights are not social issues any more than they are cultural issues. And it’s legally impossible for full gay civil rights to exist within a patchwork of state laws that conflict with one another and with the Constitution.

Gay rights are civil rights that are at the core of equal rights protections promised under the Bill of Rights.

Until Congress or the Supreme Court recognizes this, I fear we’ll continue to suffer from mischaracterizations of the sort in this Op-Ed article, which are more befitting of a blog or high school newspaper than The Times.

It’s 2007. Wake up.

Todd Piccus

Venice